Organizing to Work From Home: Your Routine

It can be challenging to work from home and still be productive. There are more distractions (kids, snacks, the couch!) than you usually have in the office, yet you still have to meet work expectations.

With so many of us now forced to WFH, here’s how to ease the transition and keep it all together.

• Have an intentional workspace (not just the laptop in bed)

• If you do have an office area, avoid getting up and going right to your work computer in your PJs

• Try to stick to some familiar routines: shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, get your cup of coffee before you start working

• Do take breaks to get outside for a walk around the block or just hang out in your yard for a few minutes; studies, like this one, have found that a “green break” can be good for you and your productivity

• If you and a partner are both trying to work and take care of the kids at the same time, make a schedule of who’s “on” to help with the kids around daily work calls and project priorities

• Be sure to keep in touch with your manager/your team throughout the work week

Organizing to Work From Home (WFH): Your Space

In our current reality, you may now be unexpectedly working from home. Here’s how to get your WFH space organized for success.

If you have an office or dedicated room to work in:

• Make sure you have a clear space to work. This could be an actual desk, or a temporary table set up in the space. If the desk/table isn’t clear, for the time being you have permission to move off the “stuff” into a box and go through it later.

• Have the supplies you’ll need within easy reach, such as phone, note paper, pens.

• Do you need a whiteboard in your space for sketching out ideas? (You may have on in another room you can borrow temporarily.)

• Working via video conference? Check your spot for good lighting and pay attention to what’s behind you if your webcam is on.

  • Bonus links: How to look your best on a webcam from the New York Times and more great tips from Lifehaker.

If you don’t have a dedicated room to work in, you can:

• Create a temporary workspace in the corner of another room. A card table in the living room, comfy chair in the bedroom, or kitchen counter.

• Set up a mobile workstation. Gather your supplies in a bin or basket and have it handy, wherever you work. This is similar to my idea of a homework workstation, gather what you need and leave it in the bin.

For any work space:

• Take stock of your computer set up: do you need a headset, webcam, or monitor? Again, pay attention to lighting and the background for any video conferencing.

• Don’t forget to be sure you have a powerstrip and cord control. One of my favorite items to contain the cords is the CableBox.

• Use a comfortable (and ergonomic) chair.

• Have something that makes you smile - a photo, drawing, or other object - in your workspace.

• Don’t scatter your papers and supplies around the house, especially if you have other family members working from home. Try to keep work things contained.

Organizing for Homework

Does homework cause stress in your house? One way to help is to create a homework bin in your kitchen, or wherever your child does her homework. Making it easy for your student to find the supplies she needs will go a long way in reducing homework anxiety and stress.

When my daughter was little we had bins for arts and crafts supplies in the kitchen since that's where we tended to do crafts. Over time the bins evolved into a homework supplies bin. This week my daughter cleaned out her bin. 

Now she's got a bin with what a middle-schooler needs: pens, pencils, pencil sharpener, extra loose leaf paper, book covers, and the all-important index cards.

Help your student by identifying what supplies they need regularly to do their homework, and then find a spot to store them. Even a single bin or basket can help keep supplies contained. Keep the bin stocked so your student will be ready to tackle homework!

Sorting in process, lots in the recycle bag!

Finished bin

Organizing the Craft Closet

The sorting process

At the start of the new year my girl was busily weeding out the "kid stuff" from her room to make more space for new books and holiday gifts (I know, I'm lucky...she also likes to sell the things she outgrows, but that's another blog post). I took a cue from my daughter and decided to clean out our craft closet, a space that doesn't get used as much as it did a few years ago. It also holds our inflatable guest bed and wrapping paper, and had gotten a bit overstuffed.

I took everything out (even the hard to reach corners) and started to sort. As I sorted I asked myself, what did we use? what hadn't we touched? what craft kits or projects had my daughter outgrown?  I had a good pile of things to go away and a stack of containers to go back in. The stuff in the containers was fairly sorted, but I did a quick once over and got rid of some old construction paper, party decorations and used-up markers. 

Clearing the space meant there was more room on the shelves for the items I wanted to keep. I made sure they all had accurate labels to help everyone in the house know what was inside. I also had removed enough stuff from the floor that the inflatable bed fit better on the left side, and now I had easy access to my wrapping paper. 

All done!

The whole process took me about an hour. It was a closet I had avoided for months, but focusing on this one space meant I was able to accomplish the task.